Hoffman Estates basketball team disciplined after hazing allegation

The Hoffman Estates High School boys varsity basketball team is being forced to forfeit three games after school district officials investigated a hazing allegation, according to district officials.

The allegation surfaced Friday afternoon, and after school officials investigated and interviewed the team's coach and players, games Friday night, tonight and Tuesday were cancelled, according to Township High School District 211 officials.

"Allegations of this kind are taken very seriously," said School Board President Robert LeFevre Jr. "Very seriously. Behavior like this will not be tolerated."

After the cancellation, District Superintendent Nancy Robb and Hoffman Estates High School Principal Jim Britton met with parents and players to let them know what the investigation had found, according to a release.

District 211 officials are not specifying the exact nature of the allegations or discipline against individual students. While Friday night's game was cancelled in part because of the need to complete the investigation, officials decided the suspension of play Friday would be part of a three-game penalty that is "in accordance with district athletic policy," according to the district release.

As part of the discipline, players "also will receive further training in hazing awareness andprevention and (hazing's) impact on others," according to the release.

Officials reported the hazing allegations to police and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, LeFevre said.